Regina — Saskatchewan's premier says the federal government has rejected his government's carbon tax plan.
"Saskatchewan’s submission would have protected families, jobs and industries while exceeding the federal minimum standards, in close alignment with other provincial programs previously accepted," Premier Scott Moe said in a statement issued on Monday.
"The rejection of Saskatchewan’s submission can only be viewed as an arbitrary and political decision from the federal government," Moe said.
In the statement, Moe said the province will not be able to make another submission until 2023.
Moe committed to developing a carbon tax framework for Saskatchewan following a Supreme Court decision earlier this year where — along with Alberta and Ontario — the province came out on the losing end of a years-long fight with Ottawa.
In his statement, Moe said his government is "fully evaluating" the federal government's decision and is exploring avenues to "protect" Saskatchewan residents from the federal government's carbon pricing rules.
"We hope that the federal government does not take the same arbitrary and political approach to ongoing areas of federal-provincial negotiation, such as the federal child care funding, which Saskatchewan will continue to pursue," Moe said.
The federal carbon pricing program first came into force in 2019 and affects provinces with no carbon pricing mechanism in place or where the carbon pricing scheme does not meet federal benchmarks.
In the absence of a provincial plan that meets federal requirements, the federal government says it has returned much of the money collected through tax rebates and direct funding for affected sectors.
In a statement, a representative for the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change said the federal government is still interested in working with the province.
“We are pleased to see Saskatchewan’s interest in developing a made-in-Saskatchewan pollution pricing plan, and remain open to conversations with Saskatchewan about what their system could look like going forward,” read the statement.
Saskatchewan’s NDP Opposition said the premier has “failed the people of Saskatchewan on carbon pricing.”
“He has intentionally chosen to leave us with a plan designed in Ottawa instead of a plan that will work for Saskatchewan people,” said NDP leader Ryan Meili in a press release.
Meili said Moe is “playing politics” and as a result, the province is “stuck with Prime Minister Trudeau’s plan for a further two years.”
